In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker

I just finished reading In the Garden of Iden for Carl's 2009 Sci-Fi Experience, and it was an intriguing if somewhat frustrating experience, to say the least. It's definitely one of the more unique stories I've read in awhile.

The premise is terrific. A few hundred years into the future, a global conglomerate, Dr. Zeus, Inc. (known as The Company) has invented time travel. Its agents turn children from different historical periods into immortal cyborgs and trains them to act as The Company's operatives. These immortals collect old manuscripts, works of art and rare plants and animals that otherwise would be lost or go extinct. The Company produces these "rediscovered" treasures at appropriate times ... for a price.

The botanist Mendoza is one such operative, rescued from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. Like other agents, she believes her work will ultimately benefit humankind by saving mortals from their own destructive tendencies. She has little regard for humans, perceiving them as violent, unreasonable apes.

I flew through the first third of the novel, which introduced Mendoza and her associates and revealed a little of The Company's methods for creating operatives. Part human and part machine, operatives have heightened senses, lightning-fast reflexes and the ability to heal rapidly, as well as centuries-worth of knowledge.

At age 19, Mendoza receives her first Company assignment. She, her mentor, Joseph, and another operative are sent to Mary Tudor's England to collect samples of rare plants from the garden of Sir Walter Iden, a country gentleman.

Unfortunately, the plot slowed to a crawl once the group arrived at Iden's garden. At the country manor, Mendoza falls in love with Nicholas Harpole, Iden's secretary, an idealistic young man with heretical beliefs not at all welcome in Bloody Mary's England. Their relationship gives Mendoza a new perspective on mortals and eventually leads to her questioning much of what The Company has taught her.

The problem with this portion of the book was that very little happened. Mendoza and Nicholas simply roamed the garden (when they weren't having sex) for page after page, conversing earnestly about God, spirituality and the human condition. Their discourse was so tangled, I had trouble making sense of it. I still haven't quite figured out Nicholas's religious philosophy. It certainly wasn't quite Protestant, or Catholic, or any other creed I recognize from that time. (And I've read a lot about Tudor England.)

I have enjoyed other novels that wrestle with theological concepts. Kage Baker just didn't present them in a way that was enjoyable for me to read. I found my eyes glazing over whenever Mendoza and Nicholas had one of their "chats."

However, I'll admit it was refreshing to have two characters fall in love with one another chiefly for their minds, rather than because they matched some ideal of physical attractiveness. And I liked how Baker described their physical intimacy - joyful, playful and as natural as breathing.

Also, Baker has a knack for writing scenes filled with sly wit and dark humor. A few of these scenes kept this section of the novel from being completely tedious. I also chuckled at how the operatives enjoyed modern conveniences in secret. (For example, the group has a radio disguised to look like a reliquary, and they listen to other agents doing live broadcasts of historical events.)

After reading the first 200 pages, I didn't know if I wanted to continue with The Company series. But then, the plot fired up again, beginning with a humorous section on Iden's Christmas revels and the operatives' reactions to them. Right after that, Iden makes a surprising decision, and at the same time, Queen Mary begins burning Protestant heretics. The Company's mission is endangered, while Mendoza, fearing for her lover's life, frantically tries to find a way to save him. The novel's climax was quite dramatic and thought-provoking, and the epilogue left me wanting to follow Mendoza and Joseph to their next mission.

Without its sagging middle section, this would have been a very good novel. In the end, it did intrigue me more than it frustrated me, so I will continue with the series for now. My grade for In the Garden of Iden: B-

My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Historians have long debated exactly what about Anne of Cleves was so distasteful to her husband, Henry VIII of England. After all, the portrait that inspired Henry to send for her as his fourth bride shows a comely enough woman - not beautiful, but pleasant to look at, with heavy-lidded eyes and a serene countenance. Yet Henry infamously proclaimed "I like her not" after meeting her and quickly obtained an annulment.

Margaret Campbell Barnes proposed an ingenious solution to this historical conundrum in her novel, My Lady of Cleves. Hans Holbein, the court painter sent to Germany to capture Anne's likeness, fell in love with her and painted what he saw: A beautiful soul who had captured his heart.

Until Holbein's arrival, Anne lived a placid, uneventful life in the duchy of Cleves. Anne and her family all believe Henry will pick her attractive sister, Amelia, to be his bride, and all are shocked when Henry instead sends for Anne.

Touched by Holbein's exquisite miniature of her, and awakened to a belief in her own inner beauty, Anne returns the painter's love, but because of their differing stations in life, their passion can never be consummated.

The novel follows Anne to England where, determined to please her family by making a success of her royal marriage, she works hard to learn the English language and court customs. After her rejection by Henry, she fulfills her domestic urges by becoming a trusted friend to his daughters and by efficiently managing the large income and household Henry awards her for her compliance with the annulment. Barnes shows how Anne became perhaps the luckiest of Henry's wives; not only did she keep her head, she lived out her life as an independent woman who always had a place at court as a sort of honorary Tudor.

Barnes portrayed Anne as an attractive, intelligent, practical and warm-hearted woman not deserving of the insult hurled at her by Henry of "Flanders mare." As the story progresses, Henry's nobles and finally, Henry himself, come to recognize her worth.

Barnes's novel had a warm, cozy feeling to it as it told the story of a royal wife neglected by history - not as stubborn or principled as Catherine of Aragon, nor flashy and tempestuous as Anne Boleyn, nor youthful, silly and reckless as Catherine Howard. I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Anne of Cleves a bit better through the lens of fiction. My grade: A-

My Lady of Cleves will be republished in September.

The Sixth Wife as chick-lit protagonist

Suzannah Dunn's The Sixth Wife was an odd, tiresome and ultimately disappointing look at the last year-and-a-half of Katherine Parr's life. The title is a misnomer, as the book only mentions in passing her marriage to King Henry VIII and focuses exclusively on her relationship with Thomas Seymour.

Dunn chose to tell Kate's story through the eyes of her best friend, Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk. That approach could have been an intriguing one, as the historical Catherine occupied her own niche in the grand drama of the Tudors. The daughter of Maria de Salinas of Spain (the faithful friend of Katherine of Aragon) the duchess became a prominent Protestant and the wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who had previously been wed to Mary Tudor, sister to the king.

However, Dunn's Catherine was an unlikeable character whose behavior became more and more preposterous as the novel progressed.

***Warning: Spoilers follow.***

For the first one-third of the story, Dunn portrayed Catherine as disliking Thomas Seymour, convinced her friend made a terrible mistake by marrying him. Then the lovable rogue Thomas plants a quick, unwanted kiss on the back of her neck. Catherine falls instantly into lust, turning into a brainless, besotted, bodice-ripper heroine seduced by sweet words and clandestine sex. For a woman who described herself as self-possessed and unafraid to say what she thought, this was an unbelievable character shift. Catherine continued to protest her undying friendship and admiration for Kate while joyfully schtupping her husband (which just made me want to wring her nasty little neck).

Dunn skimmed over the most interesting parts of the story: Thomas's inappropriate relationship with the teenage Princess Elizabeth, and his subsequent trial and execution for treason. The final third of the book was somewhat touching, with Catherine repenting of her affair with Thomas as Kate succumbed to childbed fever. By then, however, I was impatiently skimming the novel, just wanting it to end so I could read something better.

Dunn turned her characters into cardboard cutouts, especially Kate Parr, who despite her portrayal through the eyes of her supposed best friend, never stepped full blooded from the pages of history, but remained a one-dimensional enigma.

I read historical novels partly to become immersed in the past, but Dunn's annoying use of modern idiom kept pulling me right back into the 21st Century. (The worst offense: Catherine referring to Edward VI, the boy king, as "little Eddie." Groan.) The author's writing style was clunky and overly simplistic, with laughable, tin-eared dialogue. The impression her novel gave was of bad chick lit, with historical personages incongruously shoved into it. Without the names Katherine Parr, Thomas Seymour and Princess Elizabeth, this could have been any tedious piece of romantic fluff.

Katherine Parr - queen, intellectual and author - deserves better than this. My grade: D.

Kathy Lynn Emerson's Face Down Elizabethan mystery series

I began reading Kathy Lynn Emerson's Face Down series in 2006 and finished two more of the books this past year. These enjoyable mysteries, set in the England of Queen Elizabeth I, feature Susanna, Lady Appleton, a sharp-eyed, tart-tongued sleuth with little patience for the restrictions her society places on women. Emerson has populated the novels with interesting people and filled them with details about what life was like in Elizabethan times, from the food served at meals, to herbal remedies, to the miseries of travel. While reading each novel, I enjoyed revisiting Susanna's England and catching up with my favorite characters.

Here's a quick recap of the books I've read so far:

1. Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie. Susanna and her husband, Robert Appleton, wage a classic battle of the sexes when she goes behind his back to investigate the death of his steward. This enrages Sir Robert, the typical Elizabethan misogynist with definite ideas about "a woman's place" (even toward his sovereign lady, Queen Elizabeth). Susanna always stays one step ahead of her husband, which irritates him to no end. My grade: A-
2. Face Down Upon An Herbal. Susanna Appleton investigates forgery, treason and murder in this somewhat convoluted mystery. It is one of the weaker novels in the series but still worth reading for its development of Catherine, Robert's half sister, who becomes a major character from this book forward. My grade: B-
3. Face Down Among The Winchester Geese. My favorite book in the series thus far, Winchester Geese was a riveting read with an explosive ending. Susanna hunts for a serial killer who murders one woman each year, while Robert pursues a scheme he hopes will give him everything he's ever desired ... but that could lead to his ruin. Lady Mary Grey, sister to the ill-fated Lady Jane, plays a major role in the story. My grade: A.
4. Face Down Beneath the Eleanor Cross. Robert is murdered, and suspicion immediately falls on Susanna, who must unmask the real killer before she is tried and executed. This page turner was nearly as enjoyable as Winchester Geese. My grade: A.
5. Face Down Under the Wych Elm. Susanna races against time to save two women unjustly accused of witchcraft, one of whom is a former mistress of Robert's. Emerson enlivens the story with a subplot about Susanna's new romance with the merchant, Nick Baldwin, another terrific series character. My grade: A-
6. Face Down Before Rebel Hooves. Susanna infiltrates a ring of Catholic conspirators who lead an uprising against the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. The book was another page turner; however, I was dismayed by the ugly behavior of two of my favorite characters, Nick Baldwin and Sir Walter Pendennis, rivals for Susanna's affections. My grade: B
7. Face Down Across the Western Sea. Susanna investigates murder among a group of scholars researching England's claim to the New World. The mystery itself was confusing and somewhat far-fetched, but several subplots revealed new depths to familiar characters. My grade: B-

After Western Sea, publication of the series shifted from St. Martin's Press (hardcovers) and Kensington Mystery (mass-market paperbacks) to Perseverance Press, which is bringing out new novels in beautiful trade paperbacks. The next three novels, along with a short-story collection, await me on Mount TBR.

For a list of the complete series, visit Emerson's Web site here.

Lust and love in historical fiction

The title Royal Harlot should have tipped me off.

I picked up Susan Holloway Scott's novel about Barbara Villiers Palmer, notorious mistress of England's Charles II, expecting a certain amount of titillation, but also hoping for an enlightening glimpse into merry Restoration London.

I got smut.

I have no problem with a bit of smut. A well-placed sex scene can liven up any story filled with treaties, treason, war, politics and beheadings. After all, where would Henry VIII be without the beguiling Anne Boleyn or that tart, Katherine Howard?

But a third of the way into Royal Harlot, I already felt bludgeoned by the sex scenes. Reading this novel was a bit like watching Showgirls.

Heaving bosoms and throbbing manhoods do not a plot make. Therefore, I finished the book totally unenlightened about Charles' Dutch wars or his divisive religious policies. Scott spent just a few pages on the Great Plague and Great Fire of London. (I learned more by quickly skimming Wikipedia entries than I did from this book.)

But I did discover Charles II and Barbara Villiers liked sex. A lot. My grade: D

Thankfully, another of my recent reads, Loving Will Shakespeare, brought the past vividly to life while offering a convincing love story. Carolyn Meyer's novel focuses on Anne (Agnes) Hathaway, who became Shakespeare's wife.

Historians know little about Anne, other than Shakespeare bequeathing her the "second-best bed" in his will, and that she was eight years older than her husband. Meyer's Anne is a lonely girl growing up in an unhappy home, who despairs of ever finding someone to love her. She is drawn to Will by his charm, creativity and zest for life and as he becomes a young man, finds herself unexpectedly falling in love with him. Their romance will be bittersweet, as Shakespeare will spend most of his time in London, wedded more to the theater than to his wife.

The novel included many wonderful scenes of rural village life in Elizabethan England, including holiday customs, marriage traditions and the excitement generated by the queen's annual progress. My grade: A-

Morgan Llywelyn's Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife, another novel centering on a love story, left me wanting to know much more about its protagonists. It was an absorbing, touching read, but too short. My grade: B-

Richard de Clare (Strongbow) was a Norman knight denied his lands and titles, who fought on behalf of Aoife's father, the deposed king of Leinster in Ireland. I discovered through a Google search that Richard and Aoife were the parents of Isabel de Clare, who married William Marshal, one of medieval England's greatest knights and statesmen. Does anyone know of any other books focusing on Strongbow or Aoife?

The final book in this love-themed reading roundup is the best book I've read this year so far: Peony in Love by Lisa See. A ghost story, a historical fantasy, a family saga and a coming-of-age tale, the novel immersed me in the unfamiliar world of 17th-century China and captivated me with its beautifully told story.

The novel is set during a time of political and social upheaval in China, when thousands of women left their cloistered existences to pursue intellectual lives, writing and publishing their own work, before society forced them back into their family compounds. A woman's right to express herself is a major theme of the novel.

Peony is a 15-year-old aristocratic girl obsessed with the controversial opera, The Peony Pavilion. During a performance of the opera staged in her family's compound, she secretly meets and falls in love with a poet, Wu Ren. Locked in her room for her transgressions and to await her arranged marriage, Peony becomes so absorbed in writing her thoughts about the opera, she forgets to eat, and dies just before her scheduled wedding.

From there, the novel explores intricate Chinese beliefs about the afterlife as Peony roams the world as a hungry ghost, visiting Wu Ren and influencing his subsequent wives to continue writing about the opera. Peony's story mirrors The Peony Pavilion but also deviates from the opera in unexpected ways. She learns surprising, heartbreaking truths about the women in her own family, and ultimately finds a way to be remembered and honored as an individual.

Peony in Love was a hypnotic, strange fairy tale that required some suspension of disbelief to be enjoyed. I willingly followed the story where it led me, sometimes slowing my reading to savor the beautiful writing, sometimes speeding up in my impatience to discover what would come next. My grade: A+

The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir

Early this year, I re-read one of my favorite all-time books, Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII. I credit this book, along with Margaret George's brilliant novel, The Autobiography of Henry VIII, with turning me into a full-blown Tudor maniac, and by extension, sparking my interest in the history of the English monarchy.

I took a course on the history of England in college and found it dry and disappointing. It took Alison Weir and Margaret George to truly bring these historical figures to life for me.

Henry VIII had a larger-than-life personality, and his six wives were fascinating people in their own right. Alison Weir lets the reader get to know each of them. Who knew Anne of Cleves, who had the shortest marriage, would end up the luckiest of the wives? Or that Katherine Parr nearly went to the block, like two queens before her?

Besides telling the stories of royalty, Weir's book is chock-full of fascinating tidbits on what life was like in those times.

The book is easy to read yet backed up thoroughly by research and scholarship -- a perfect book for someone who finds history dull and unreadable. Through the engaging biographies of the six wives, Weir illuminates the history of Henry himself and the tumultuous times in which he lived. My grade: A+

In March, I read Weir's captivating first novel, Innocent Traitor, about the Lady Jane Grey, great-niece to Henry VIII and the ill-fated nine days' queen of England.

When Henry VIII's teenage son, Edward VI, lay on his deathbed, nobles who feared the accession of Henry's Catholic daughter, Mary, schemed to put Jane, a Protestant, on the throne in Mary's place. However, after Edward's death, the English populace rallied to Mary's banner, and the plot's instigators were imprisoned. Mary later had Jane, just 16, executed to prevent other plots, although she knew Jane had simply been the pawn of powerful men.

Weir chose to use multiple narrators in Innocent Traitor, which I enjoyed immensely as I learned more about each character through their unique voices. Weir's portrait of Jane Grey was of a brilliant, courageous, outspoken, exasperating, dogmatic and determined young woman, who in a different time might have grown up to become a great scholar or religious leader. Jane's mother, Frances, was portrayed as an intensely pragmatic but ambitious woman who little understood her own daughter, but who in the end discovered her fierce love for her. The Lady Mary, later queen, was essentially kind-hearted and practical, yet fanatical in her devotion to Catholicism and determined to fight for her birthright.

Weir deftly wove historical events and her character's recorded words into her narrative, telling an enthralling, tragic story that had me glued to the book for hours. I expect this novel will be one of my favorite reads of 2007. Grade: A.

I am more than a bit peeved that Weir's latest biography, about Katherine Swynford, mistress to John of Gaunt and ancestor of the Tudors, will not be released in the U.S. until 2009. I believe I will put the U.K. edition of the book on my Christmas wish list.